Shifting Focus…..Let’s Go Racing!

I’ve decided that my real passion in life is racing. This has always been the case but the barrier to entry was always so high. As I move forward with my life I have decided that I don’t want to look back and say “I should’ve done that” so I have decided to shift my focus a little bit and pursue racing, maybe not as a career but to just go out there and have fun.

This started not too long ago as I have started a small once a month group that goes indoor electric Go Karting at Pole Position Raceway in Jersey City. I absolutely love it and would stay there all day racing if I could afford it. We usually run 3 races for a price tag of about $60. We became members the last time we went and we have saved $25 per visit. The membership paid for itself for me, I signed up on my birthday month so got 1 free race for becoming a member, 1 free race cause it was my birthday month, and a discounted race because I was now a member. This brought my usual monthly cost to $75 down from $85.

Since I liked it so much, I decided to join the SCCA. I thought this was a good move, since it would allow me to meet people with similar interest and get me on the race track. Unfortunately, as I started researching the requirements for going racing it seems that any wheel to wheel action in an actual car is still a little cost prohibitive for me. I have a deal with my wife that I would use my leftover “allowance” money to purchase equipment. Race cars are expensive, and a driving school for a license would eat up my funds really quickly. There are other options for keeping costs down that I will post shortly but it still seems a little expensive…..

Autocross is another option; you can use your own car and just pay for the entry fee. That is fine, but it is not wheel to wheel racing. There’s just something to actual racing that you can’t get racing the clock. Another problem (for me anyway) is that you use your car. I need my car for work so beating on it during the weekend may not be the greatest idea that I ever had. I could purchase an autocross car that I could use for that but that would add to the cost of doing this.

All this being said, I found another option, and the one that I will be going for, Karting! It’s slower but not by much and I can improve my skills while saving up to go actual racing in real cars. It just makes sense; it looks like I can run a full season at a local / regional level this year! With the funds that I plan to use that is great. I can get my racing fix and get a good amount of seat time for not a lot of money! I will be blogging about my quest for a racing career (probably not a career, but more like wheel to wheel seat time) here and the steps that it takes to get there. I will be doing research and posting about my actual progress and steps that I’ve taken to move this dream forward. You will be able to find these posts here, under the racing tab on the home page.